Mind Sports South Africa's (MSSA) blog on competitive gaming in South Africa from proto-computer gaming all the way through to the most modern. For more about MSSA go to: https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa/
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Thursday, 28 July 2016

Internationale-Sports Federation (IeSF) has announced a partnership, so called
‘Exclusive Strategic Partnership’, with Alibaba
Sports Group (Alisports)
in Shanghai, China on July 26, 2016.

Alisports
and IeSF first met in Beijing early this year. Although, it is a
quite short period time to make something concrete between the two
different parties, it quickly became clear that both parties shared
the same vision on future goals which quickly enabled IeSF and
Alisports to reach consensus for such partnership.

There
are three specific goals which both shared.

First,
both parties want to have a tournament in
which
both
amateur e-Sports players and professional e-Sports players can
participate. By
pursuing this objective, IeSF
will fully endorse WESG Game Series initiatives.

Second,
both parties shall
work together to have
e-Sports accredited
as a
sport.

Last
but not least, both parties will create the unique IP necessary
to support the aims and objectives as mentioned in the above points.

IeSF’s
World Championship’s journey started
in
2009, thus
IeSF
now has the
necessary know-how,
experience, resources and more in terms
of operating
tournaments as well as having
global
coverage through its 47 member National Federations. These various
strengths from IeSF will support the
World Electronic Sports Games,WESG,
hosted by Alisports
to be a tournament which can benefit e-Sports players, fans, and
officials.

IeSF
has put great efforts to enter International Sports Society. IeSF has
been approved as one of the official signatories of World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA) in 2013. IeSF is currently an international member of
The Association For International Sport for All (TAFISA) and IeSF is
approved as counterpart for e-Sports discipline by Olympic Council of
Asia (OCA). IeSF is preparing documentation to submit to
International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Sport Accord at this
moment. IeSF will now spread its wings to enter International Sports
Society with support from Alisports.

To
make sports market-oriented and gaming sports-oriented, Alisports
hosts WESG with a total prize morethan
$5.5
million and total investment more than 1 billion yuan
($149 million),
attracting e-Sports players from over 100countries
and regions in this inauguration. Meanwhile, Alisports is also
planning to build e-Sports
Stadiums
around China, in
the hope
to make e-Sports become a way of life.

Alisports
CEO, Mr. Zhang Dazhong addressed the
gathered audience, saying:
“As the most authoritative international organization in e-sports
industry, IeSF has been committed to promotinge-Sports
movement into the mainstream, including pushing it
into the Olympic Games, which is
consistent
with our ideal.
We
are
honoured
to cooperate
with IeSF
as
the exclusive global partners
in the
long-term.
I believe the two sides will jointly promote the development of the
global e-Sports
industry.“

IeSF
President, Mr. Byung Hun Jun said “This partnership is one big step
to IeSF. I believe IeSF and Alisports will maximize each other’s
strength by this partnership. I also believe e-Sports Stadium can be
transformed to be a fashion place for Youth. IeSF will make our all
effort to be with more e-Sports fans in more countries together with
Alisports from now on.”

▶About
IeSF

The
International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) is an International Union
governing e-Sports globally, established in 2008. Currently IeSF
retains 47 member National Federations. As e-Sports has been
perceived as one of potential Sport disciplines, those National
Federations are getting closer to be recognized by National Sport
Authorities such as Ministry of Sport and National Olympic
Committees.

Since
2009, IeSF has been hosting e-Sports World Championship every year.
Also, IeSF cooperates with various International Sport Bodies. IeSF
has been approved as one of the official signatories of World
Anti-Doping Agency in 2013, and since then, IeSF has been operating
doping control for every event. Also, IeSF is official counterpart of
Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) as well as an International member of
TAFISA (The association For International Sport for All).

As
taking further step, IeSF is aiming for affiliation to Sport Accord.
IeSF
is also an officially recognized applicant for the International
Olympic Committee. IeSF has received an official letter from the IOC
on April 17th.
IeSF will be submitting all relevant
documents by August 31st
2016 and will receive the results in December.

▶About
Alisports

Alisports, founded
in September 2015, is a sports platform established with the aim of
placing the entire range of services from ticketing and broadcasting
rights to rights management in one hand. It
devotes to building the basic sports economy platform with the
thinking of Internet and developing sports business both online and
offline. Alisports consequently strives to create value and make
contributions to the international and domestic sports associations.

Alisports
addresses
the interests of both spectators and sportspersons. The utilisation
of internet-basedtechnologies
will play a decisive role in the transformation of the sports
industry in China. Alisports is a subsidiary company of the Alibaba
Group, the largest online and mobile commerce company in
the world in terms of gross merchandise volume.

Wednesday, 27 July 2016

120
officials from e-sports and sports industries will participate in the
Global e-Sports Executive Summit,which will be held by International
e-Sports Federation (IeSF) in Shanghai, China for 2 days, from July
30th
to July 31st.

The
goal and vision of the summit is to share ideas between key
stakeholders in different e-Sports industries to align understandings
and ensure e-sport develops in the right direction and manner. Also
the summit will involve the participation of the international sport
society to openly discuss the potentials of e-Sports and its
synergies it can produce together with traditional Sports.

Key
stakeholders in diverse e-sports industries will be attending the
summit. Games related companies, such as Blizzard Entertainment,
Wargaming, Smilegate, Mail.Ru, Tencent Games, and Garena.
Professional e-sports teams from NAVI and FCShalke04 have also
decided to participate in such event. e-Sports peripheral companies
such as Sony Interactive Entertainment and Logitech, together with
live streaming companies from Twitch, SPOTV, LeSports, and sport
media from SinaSports, Daily Dot, The Score will also attend the
summit.

The
summit will also involve the presence of key roleplayers within the
international sports society. Charmaine Crooks, the 1984 LA Olympic
silver medalist who was elected to the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) athlete’s commissions, and an executive board
member of Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), together with Vlad
Marinescu, former SportsAccord general director, and Patrick Nally,
who is regarded as father of sports marketing and the CEO of West
Nally, will attend as a panel member of panel discussion during the
summit.

The
agendas of panel discussion will be;

e-sports,
road to official sports

good
causes, universal value, and social responsibility in e-sports,

athlete
welfare

clean
e-sports environment

-what
is the platform for the next generation e-Sports and how it can
change your lives, will
be discussed during the summit on July 31st

“We
expect the Global e-Sports Executive Summit will be the place where
various e-sports and sports officials could speak together on the
synergy of e-sports and traditional sports. IeSF plans to host the
summit as an annual event for e-sports partners to discuss e-sports
development and have relationships with international sports society.
We request for all e-sports partners, fans and traditional sports
officials who are interested in e-sports for your continuous
interests and support,” said Byung Hun Jun, President of IeSF.

The Ancients period saw Jason Batzofin and Terence Allwright locked in battle throughout the championship. The end result was thus a draw between the two, and, since both finished in first place, both players earned their City of Johannesburg Regional Colours.

In Morabaraba, young Dion Du Preez from Witbank annihilated all of his opponents to earn himself Nkangala Regional Colours.The winners are:

Friday, 22 July 2016

Paula Loftus from Sasolburg has became Mind Sports South Africa’s first female Provincial Director representing the Free State Province. Not only is Paula the first female Provincial Director, but Paula becomes MSSA's first ever female Provincial Director.Paula has a long experience in sport management structures. Having actively competed in Freshwater Angling and Marathon Running, Paula brings a wealth of administrative skill to MSSA.

Testament to Paula's competitive spirit is the fact that she earned her Provincial Colours at the first Provincial Championships in which she competed.

She is looking forward to serve the MSSA as Provincial Director and to assist all the Clubs and Players from the Free State. Paula is a passionate and gifted game player and will be a tremendous asset to the Management of MSSA. —

While at the Global eSports
Summit, Jason will be thrown in among many of the movers and shakers
in the eSports world, and will carry South Africa’s hopes, dreams
and aspirations on his shoulders.

However, not all
will be work.

While
there, Jason
will be able to attend ‘ChinaJoy’ and see all that China has to
offer the gaming world. ChinaJoy is China's largest and most
prestigious digital entertainment expo whereat it is expected that
there will be intent transactions contracted totalling
USD350,000,000.00.

Jason was elected by
South Africa’s senior players (those that have at least senior
Provincial Colours) at MSSA’s 2015 Annual General Meeting. The
position is a three year term, and may only be held by a Registered
Player who has earned Protea Colours and has represented South Africa
in International Competition.

Wednesday, 20 July 2016

From
the 25th of July till the 2nd of August Colin Webster, the general
secretary of MSSA, along with Jason Batzofin, the MSSA player's representative, will be attending the Global eSports Executive Summit
in Shanghai, China. The summit will take place at the prestigious
Hyatt hotel. During the summit the IeSF along with all other
federations involved hope to make plans to further the development of
eSports world wide and to discuss the potential that eSports can
produce with the more traditional sports.

The summit will be hosted
by the IeSF. International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) is the sole
international governing body representing the discipline of e-sports.
In order to deliver its mission statement, to develop global e-sports
standard for promoting and settling down e-sports as official sport
discipline, IeSF was founded in 2008 with its 9 founding member
nations with support of the Government. As IeSF is being perceived as
one of the authorized international governing bodies, IeSF is further
attempting to take a role in the e-sports field to enhance and
upraise global recognition of e-sports.

No South African organisation may allow its constitution to conflict with the Constitution of South Africa as the Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the country of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, sets out the rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the government.

One can only wonder what FINA and the IOC think about it.

Generally in the world of sport, a national federation has to get approval from the international body before such changes may be implemented.

Has FINA then also lost the plot?

At one stage Swimming South africa had, without doubt, the best constitution out of all the sporting bodies, but it seems as though the officials and administrators of Swimming South Africa would rather run the risk of having their membership of SASCOC terminated than maintain good governance.

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

15mm
DBM200 COMPETITION RULES

The
rules to be used are DBM version 3.2 and the official
clarifications. The 2nd edition Army Lists and current errata to the
lists issued by the authors. The current IWF Clarifications and
Guidelines for fair play, together with the MSSA scoring system and
the current IWF Army List Interpretations. We will also be
using revised terrain rules (see details below).

Army
lists must be submitted allocating all elements including baggage to
a command. They must specify the number of element equivalents
and demoralisation levels for each command and for the whole
army. The total army size must not exceed 200 AP. All maxima
and minima (including generals and baggage) in the lists are
halved, rounding up (so each army has 3 baggage elements). The list
must indicate:

the
climate, aggression factor, year, geographical region, general
where relevant and all double based elements. Once an army list
has been submitted

it
may not be changed or altered other than to correct any errors.
Players may only correct their errors by making reasonable
changes to their list. It is not allowed to completely re-write the
list, and the list checkers decision on this is final.

Army
lists must be submitted for checking in advance and must be received
by the List Checker not later than the date specified on the
notification of the event. A penalty of 2 victory points per round,
for each round of the competition (at any venue), may be imposed for
late submission of lists. Any incorrect list discovered after a game
has commenced (after set up dice have been rolled) must be corrected
prior to the next match.

Players
must fully define their troops as they are placed on table.

Table
size is 48" x 36" and players must supply their own
terrain pieces.

Terrain
must be to an acceptable standard, and umpires will have the
discretion to remove unsightly items. For the purpose of measuring
the size of and placing terrain 50p is considered to be 1/2"
instead of 1", i.e. all area features are half-size.

Players
must be present and ready to start the match at the appointed time.
Where a player has a reasonable excuse for arriving late the match
start will be delayed by up to 10 minutes. After which time the
effected player may be awarded a win. No player will be awarded more
than one bye for any reason.

If
a player resigns from a game at any stage after the first set up
dice have been rolled
their opponent will be awarded a win.

Matches
will continue until the end of the defender's turn in the current
pair of bounds when time is called. Time will be called after 1 hour
and 45 minutes. Players may always commence games earlier than
the stated time by mutual consent

The
event will be adjudicated by umpires.

A
modified Swiss Chess system will operate throughout the competition.

The
draw for the first game is as per MSSA Seedings.

The
draw in all other rounds is based on the Swiss Chess System.

The
timetable for each venue unless specifically notified is as
follows;

Thus OEWC will be hosting the 2016 City of Johannesburg Championships on 23 July 2016.

The championship also counts as a qualifier for the MSSA's National Team Trials as according to MSSA's rules, the winner of a Regional Championship automatically is invited to such National Team Trials.

Entries will close at 8H00 on 23 July 2016. Players who wish to compete in any of MSSA's Championships are advised to complete their annual registration forms so that they may register as Registered Players as soon as possible. Late entries will be accepted in exceptional circumstances.

All gamers are reminded that the City of Johannesburg Regional Championships is an open championship. In other words any registered player is entitled to enter the championship – no matter where they live, or their category of membership. If you have any queries, please contact the MSSA.

Rules and Regulations: All Rules and Regulations pertaining to eSports are available from the MSSA. Players are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the LAN Bylaws and all Period Specific Rules. If any Player wishes to provide advice regarding the drafting of the Period Specific Rules they are encouraged to contact MSSA who will take all comments into account.

The following Medals may be awarded at the MSSA's 2016 City of Johannesburg Regional Championship:

PREMIER: Medals shall be awarded to the first three players who are registered players.

SCHOLARS: Medals shall be awarded to the first three high school scholars, provided they have not received any Premier medals.

WOMEN: Women will be awarded medals as per the same basis as above, that is in both categories as above.

Colours and National Team Trials:

Regional Colours: All Players that win their division in a Regional Championship shall be awarded Regional Colours.

National Team Trials: All Players that win their division in a Regional Championship shall earn an invitation to National Team Trials in such division. National Team Trials shall be held in the event that a National Team must be selected to represent South Africa when competing in such Period in an International Championship.

Please note that times may be changed to take into account load-shedding.

Saturday, 16 July 2016

The
MSSA is proud to announce that the 2016
On-line Championships
for HearthStone, and
StarCraft II will be held on 13
August 2016.

The
online championships for StarCraft II has run since 2011. It should be noted that Robert Botha and Nathan Anderson both represented South Africa in the Protea eSports Team. Both performed admirably, and Nathan so far has more caps than any South African for eSports (10). The winners over the years are:

HearthStone was only run by MSSA from 2014. Barry West, the first winner, found himself called up for duty in the Protea eSports Team that participated in the IeSF's 6th World Championships - Baku. MSSA is very proud of the players who have represented South Africa at World Championship level, as they have all done so with distinction. The previous winners are:

The
championship may be used by gamers to qualify for eligibility to
compete in the 2017 National Team Trials should the MSSA need to
choose a team for any of the above-named titles.

Tournament
Structure:

As
per the MSSA's rules, being:

If
less than six players, the championship shall be a Round Robin
Championship

If
6 to 10 players the championship shall be four rounds as played to
the Swiss System

If
11 to 30 players the championship shall be five rounds as played to
the Swiss System

Eligibility:

Any
player/team who is a Registered Player affiliated to a MSSA member
club may enter.

Entry
fee:

Entry
isfree to
all full-paid-up Registered Players.

Only
fully-paid-up Registered Players may participate in this event.

Entry
date:

Entries
need to be submitted by no later than Monday, 10 August 2016.

Registration:

To
register, a completed registration form must be either faxed to 086
672 1911 or sent as a pdf to mindsportssa@iafrica.com

Medals:

Medals
shall be awarded to the first three gamers for both men and women in
the following categories:

PREMIER: The
top three places (1st, 2nd, and 3rd).

UNIVERSITY:Medals
shall be awarded to gamers the first three gamers that have not won
a Premier medal and who are students currently registered at any
officially recognised University.

SCHOLARS:
Medals shall be awarded to the first three learners currently
registered at any officially recognised school, or home schooled,
provided they have not received any Premier medals.

Colours:

Protea
Colours: Only Players that are selected to represent South
Africa in International Championships may earn National Colours if
the Protea Colours Board's criteria are met.

National
Colours: All Players that win all of their Matches at a National
Championship will earn National Colours.

Provincial
Colours: All Players that win all of their Matches at a
Provincial Championship will earn Provincial Colours. All Players
who score within the top 50% in a specific Period at a Provincial
Championship, and who also score within the top 50% at a National
Championship in the same period and in the same year, will earn
Provincial Colours.

When
and Where:

13
August 2016

The
first round will start at 10H00. Players shall be given 60 minutes
to complete each round.

Players
must all be on-line at 9H00.

The
championship is accredited as being of the same status as a
provincial championship. This means that the championship shall be
used for the following:

The
awarding of provincial colours;

The
awarding of medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in Premier, Under 24,
and School categories;

The
ability to qualify for National Team Trials.

As
usual Trials shall be done at a LAN venue, and the team that can best
represent South Africa shall then be selected.
Shout
casting: